News & Research

3D Printing Comes Home

04/23/2013

Janos Stone 98 SC believes in putting the creative powers of
technology into the hands of the common man (and woman and child). That’s why
he developed Mecube,
a mobile application that brings 3D printing to the masses.

“Mecube is
super intuitive,” says Stone, “and it seamlessly connects users directly to 3D
printers and fulfillment. This means that anyone can design a 3D object on
their phone or tablet and hold it in their hands a few days later.”

If you’ve
heard anything about 3D printing, you’re probably thinking that this would be a
pricey endeavor. In fact, Mecube allows users to design small, simple objects
(think of a tiny toy robot or a pair of dice) for anywhere from $5 to a few
hundred dollars, depending on the material used. High-end options include
titanium and premium silver, but Stone favors inexpensive full-color sandstone,
which provides novice designers with hundreds of thousands of color options.

After
introducing the app in late March, Stone is able to watch remotely as it catches
on in the US and overseas. “At first I started to see little experiments, and
now I’m seeing 10 designs per day,” he says. “I’m watching people learn how to
use this thing!”

Now Stone is working on applying the technology behind Mecube to
educational tools. “It uses color and volume and standard metric units,” he
explains, “so it automatically lends itself to simple math, physics and
engineering problems.” His target audience for Mecube 2.0 is schoolchildren
between the ages of six and 10. Younger kids generally don’t have the basic
understanding of spatial concepts needed to use the application. “And as an
artist, I want to make sure that creativity is embedded in all of the assignments,”
he says.

Is Stone concerned about people misusing his
application – to print guns, for instance? “Somebody is going to figure out a negative
way to use any technology,” he says. “But Mecube is not meant to make
complicated products. You wouldn’t be able to use it to make a pistol.”

In the future, apps like Mecube will allow consumers to personalize
products. “When you’re shopping for something specific you have in mind, you
might see things that are very close. So you either don’t buy them or you
settle,” Stone says. “These applications would allow you to slightly change the
size or the color.”

Stone is developing this idea using simple items like flatware or
tableware. He envisions people shopping online for digital files and then
personalizing them to get exactly what they want. It sounds futuristic, but he and
others are predicting that this type of application is only two or three years
away.

Although he has obviously moved on, Stone says that when he was at RISD
he “wanted to learn nothing but traditional sculpture techniques, which I’m
sure was frustrating for the department.” He has since taught sculpture and other
classes at Brown and Pratt, and he’s currently teaching at Northeastern.

“Mecube is the culmination of my years of teaching
sculpture,” says Stone. “I made a tool that essentially teaches everybody about
sculpture.”